People want to avoid automobile accidents, including those caused by their own behavior and emotions which can adversely affect their driving success. Insurance companies would like to get a better risk profile of operators.
Current technology for tracking driving performance is generally based on data collected from a vehicle. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,090,598 issued to Bauer et al., entitled “Monitoring System for Determining and Communicating a Cost of Insurance,” wherein driving data is collected via a vehicle's on board data (OBD) collector. This technology is, however, tied to the vehicle itself rather than to the driver. Thus, data collected relates only generally to whoever is driving the vehicle.
Further, since information is collected via the vehicle itself, the data relates only to movement and operation of the vehicle. While it is assumed that the operation of the vehicle is a direct result of actions by the driver, there are many factors related to driving safety that cannot be accounted for. For instance, distractions, stress, etc. may impact a driver in a manner not detectable by the vehicle-based system. It would be desirable to be able to detect these situations and warn drivers of any potential hazards.
Therefore, techniques for monitoring drivers themselves and for warning the drivers when potentially hazardous situations arise would be desirable.